Carlsbad residents want more open space

CARLSBAD  A group of Carlsbad residents and environmentalists is trying to hold the city to what they say is a nearly 30-year-old promise to keep 40 percent of its land as open space.

Carlsbad is updating its General Plan, a guide for future development. As the process unfolds residents have complained the city isn’t doing enough to adhere to Proposition E, a 1986 voter-approved initiative designed to manage growth and preserve open space in Carlsbad.

City officials said during a meeting Tuesday that the 40 percent figure was never a promise.

“The 40 percent number was basically an estimate of what the city might have in open space at build-out,” said Steve Jantz, an engineer with the city’s parks and recreation department. “The 40 percent was never a requirement of the growth management plan. It didn’t even appear in the initiative itself.”

While the exact number didn’t appear in the initiative language, it was included in the argument in favor of the proposition, environmentalists say.

Moreover, the city should not only stand by that number but should look to exceed it, said Diane Nygaard, president of Preserve Calavera, a group that promotes open space in North County.

Open space, as defined by the city, includes preserved habitat, agricultural land, parks, green belts and cultural and educational areas.

Prop. E came as Carlsbad was undergoing a huge increase in development. Alarmed by the growth, city leaders and residents decided to reduce overall density and cap housing at 54,599 units.

The measure was supposed to set aside 15 percent of the city’s developable land as open space. The 15 percent together with the 25 percent of land that was already open space at the time totaled 40 percent — that’s how the estimate came about, officials said.

Today, the city has about 9,400 acres of open space or about 37.7 percent of its total area, officials said. When the city is built out, it could have about 39 percent of its land set aside as open space, said David de Cordova, the city’s principal planner.

Even at today’s 37.7 percent, Carlsbad has more open space than other North County cities, de Cordova said. According to a review of other cities’ general plans, Encinitas has 23 percent set aside as open space; Oceanside, 18 percent; San Marcos, 14 percent; and Vista, 12 percent. The Escondido number is 15.1 percent, according to that city’s planning department.

“Carlsbad is a leader in terms of open space and parks planning,” de Cordova said. “The city is meeting the standards for parks and open space and will continue to do so under the new General Plan.”

The city has 323 acres of park space and plans to add another 120 acres, officials said. The city will have 443 acres of park space when the city is built out at 131,000 residents. That means the city will surpass its standard of three acres or parks per 1,000 residents, 393 acres of park land, by about 50 acres.